The Chippendale style is an ornate variation of Queen Anne designs. The style
is named for an English cabinetmaker, Thomas Chippendale, whose volumes of plates
and text, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, were published in London
in 1754 and reissued in several editions. These books were used by cabinetmakers in
England and America and were the source for the designs of furniture produced between
about 1750 and 1775. Chippendale chairs are of generous proportions and have certain
common features. Top rails usually follow the "cupid's bow" curvature, with the
two ends, or "ears," curved upward, as in this example. Unlike the plain back
splats of the Queen Anne period, those of the Chippendale style were carved in
an openwork design. Back splats were made in a great variety of patterns; many
were very elaborately interwoven and followed Thomas Chippendale's original designs
faithfully. Chippendale chairs may have front legs in either of two types: straight
legs, reflecting the taste for design elements in the Chinese style, or, as in
this chair, well-shaped cabriole legs terminating in boldly carved claw and ball
feet.